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Detroit Fury Game Notes

May 21, 2003 - Arena Football League (1987-2008) (AFL I)
Detroit Fury News Release


QUICK FACTS:
Detroit Fury (8-8) at Grand Rapids Rampage (8-8)
Date: May 25, 2003
Kickoff: 3:00 p.m. ET
Site: Van Andel Arena (10,594)
Officials: Bill Athan (Referee), Dan Ferrell (Umpire), Rusty Spindel (Head Linesman), Paul Engelberts (Line Judge), Tony Lombardo (Back Judge)
Radio: WDFN, 1130 AM Jamie Samuelsen (Play-by-Play) Marc Spindler (Color Analyst)
TV: NBC Bill Weber (Play-by-Play) John Riggins (Color Analyst) Dave Burns (Sideline)
Series Record: (1-3)
Last Meeting: Friday, July 19, 2002 Rampage 63 – Fury 60
Streaks: Grand Rapids – Lose 5 Detroit – Lose 1
Coaches: Michael Trigg (73-72, 10th Year) Al Luginbill (8-8, 1st Year)

THE STAKES: The Fury will be looking to win their first playoff game, and to advance to the semi-final round of the playoffs. The winner of the game will travel to either San Jose, Los Angeles, Orlando or Tampa Bay for the second round. The Fury have struggled to stay around .500 all season, and they will be looking to heat up they suffered a tough loss to head into the playoffs.

THE SERIES: The Rampage hold a 3-1 series record over the Fury, and the Fury have never beaten the Rampage on the road. Last season, only seven combined points separated the Fury from a victory over Grand Rapids. This will be the first time the Fury and Grand Rapids will meet in the post season.

HEAD COACHES:

AL LUGINBILL, Detroit (8-8, 1st Year): Luginbill enters his first season as head coach and general manager of the Detroit Fury and his first season coaching in the Arena Football League. He brings over 33 years of football experience to the Fury. Luginbill began his coaching career at Pasadena City College, where he guided Pasadena City College to Jr. Rose Bowl Championship in his final season as a head coach. He then moved on to Arizona State University and worked as an assistant coach from 1977-1984 with a one-year coaching stint at the University of Wyoming. Finishing his career as a Sun Devil, he left ASU to pursue a job with the San Diego State University Athletic department. After three years on the administrative side, Luginbill was given the control over the slumping Aztec football program, where he served as head coach of SDSU for five years. He is the only coach in SDSU to ever have five consecutive winning seasons. Luginbill's career turned when he left the collegiate ranks to coach in the NFL Europe (World League). He served as head coach and director of football operations of Amsterdam Admirals from (1995-2000). In his tenure there, he guided the Admirals to the World Bowl. Luginbill moved back to States and took a job with up-start XFL and guided the Los Angeles Xtreme to XFL's first and only league championship. Throughout his career, Luginbill is credited with finding and developing NFL stars such as Marshall Faulk (San Diego St. Player), Kurt Warner (NFL Europe / Amsterdam Player) and most recently, Tommy Maddox (XFL). Luginbill currently holds a 86-56-2 overall record as a head coach. He has won three championships and appeared in five bowl games during his coaching tenure.

MICHAEL TRIGG, Grand Rapids (73-71, 10th Year): Trigg returned to the Rampage this season for his sixth year as the team's head coach. Trigg is the only head coach in the history of the Rampage, and before joining the Rampage, he spent four other years as a head coach (Three in Milwaukee and one in Fort Worth). Last season, Trigg led the Rampage to an 8-6 regular season mark and the team's fourth consecutive playoff berth. He also is the fifth winningest coach in AFL history. Trigg's ultimate achieve came in his fourth season with the Rampage, as he guided his team to an 11-3 record and an ArenaBowl Championship over the Nashville Kats. Trigg was also named the 2001 AFL Coach of the Year for his accomplishments. Trigg got his AFL in the early days on the AFL, and is no stranger to Arena Football in the Motor City. Trigg played and guided the Detroit Drive to back-to-back championships in 1989 & 1990.

FURY IN THE COMMUNITY:

FURY HOSPITAL VISITS

Members of the Fury Team visit local area hospitals to bring cheer and hope to children during their stay. Often, players and coaches will "take over" the ward, filling it with Fury decorations. Players and coaches spend time with the children, sign autographs and leave special gifts behind. The Fury hopes that these types of events will leave a lasting impression on the children and provide a life long memory they are sure to never forget.

The Fury's final Hospital Visit was be this week, on Wednesday, May 14 at St. Joseph's Mercy Macomb Hospital. Fury players, cheerleaders and mascot Frenzy toured the pediatric ward spreading joy in their afternoon.

FURY FIELD TRIPS PROGRAM

The Fury Field Trips program is designed to encourage young people's interest in science, math and technology by introducing them to real-life examples of how the sciences are used in the world around them. The goal of Fury Field Trips is to instill an interest in the sciences that they will carry through adulthood. The Fury Field Trips are proudly supported by the Metro Detroit Ford Dealers and the Towne Mortgage Company.

So far this season, the Fury have made many Fury Field trips. Their first trip of the season took five Fury players to the Ford River Rouge Plant in Dearborn, Michigan. Next, the Fury headed to Woodland Elementary School in Troy, where students were treated to an interactive science show done by students from Michigan State University. Students were able to see Fury players and MSU students demonstrate some of science's most basic principles. Lineman Jon McCall also led a group of Fury players to his former elementary school in Troy to read to children as a part of their reading month. The Fury's latest field trip will took them to Selfridge Air Base in Mt. Clemens, MI. The base, which is still an active base for the National Guard, has a military air museum on site. Fury players and local area children toured the facilities, while students learned about science and aviation. They received hands-on demonstrations and climbed into many cockpits of the planes to feel first hand what they were like.

LAST WEEK:

Auburn Hills, Mich. – The Detroit Fury advanced to 2003 ArenaBowl Playoffs, but failed to clinch the Eastern Division, as they fell 50-38 to the Orlando Predators at The Palace of Auburn Hills. The Fury (8-8) had to wait until the conclusion of the AFL's regular season to determine where they will travel to play their first-round playoff opponent. Despite the loss, the Fury still tied the Arena Football League's mark for the biggest single-season turnaround.

Detroit fell behind early, after failing to convert on a fourth down, and they were never able to climb back into the game. Orlando's defense forced two turnovers in the second half to help seal the victory.

After a season-best performance last week, Fury quarterback Andy Kelly was never able to find his rhythm this week. Kelly completed 19-of-41 passes for 180 yards, three touchdowns and one interception. He was also sacked once.

Fury receiver Jason Kaiser led the Fury's receiving corps. He caught six passes for 51 yards and two touchdowns. Marcus Nash, who suffered an asthma attack before the start of the second half, caught five passes for 51 yards.

Injuries continued to plague the Fury. Lineman Jon McCall left early in the third quarter with a sprained right knee, and lineman Dary Myricks sprained his left knee at the end. McCall and Myricks status will be re-evaluated early next week.

The Fury did see a few bright spots in the game. Lineman Curtis Eason recorded his fifth sack of the season, making him the Fury's regular season sack leader. Kickoff return specialist Ron Carpenter also displayed a bit of brilliance when he returned a missed field goal 46 yards for a touchdown.

Quarterback Jay Gruden led Orlando's attack. He completed 14-of-23 passes for 230 yards, five touchdowns and no interceptions. His two man targets, receivers Travis McGriff and Cory Fleming combined for 12 catches for 212 yards and three touchdowns.

Defensively, Orlando DS Kenny McEntyre led his team, intercepting his 10th pass of the season.

Next week, the Fury hit the road for the first round of the ArenaBowl playoffs. They currently hold an (0-1) record in the post-season. The Fury will have to wait until Sunday night to determine their opponent. The Fury's first-round game will be broadcast on NBC, but the date is still to be determined.

Score by Quarters 1 2 3 4 Final
Las Vegas Gladiators 14 14 21 3 52
Detroit Fury 14 21 13 28 76

MVP: Jay Gruden (ORL)
Ironman: Herman Bell (DET)

Attendance: (9,478)

FURY NEXT WEEK:

If the Fury are victorious, they will be traveling to either San Jose, Tampa Bay, Orlando or Los Angeles for the semi-final round of the playoffs.

FURY NOTES / TRENDS:

Rotating the Specialists: So far this season, no one person has held the offensive specialist position for the Fury for more than two weeks at a time. Today's game against Grand Rapids could be the first time that one player (Marcus Nash) could start for more than two weeks in a row as the Fury's OS.

Don't let the Stats fool you: While the Fury do not rank among the best in some defensive categories, the Fury's defense is getting the job done. They remained undefeated in the regular season when they held their opponents to under 50 points, and they do rank among the best in stopping third down conversions.

Central Division Re-Visited: So far this season, the Fury have played each of their old division rivals from the Central Division and they lost both games. Now heading into Grand Rapids, the Fury will be out to win one against their former division foes.

Close in Distance = Close Games: There must be something about the closeness between Detroit and Grand Rapids because the Fury and Rampage always play close games. In all three Rampage wins, the Rampage have never beaten the Fury by more than four points. In the Fury's win, they defeated the Rampage by 12 points, which is more than all three Rampage margin of victories combined (11).

Familiar Faces: For Fury players Lucas Yarnell, Sunday's game will be a bit of homecoming. Yarnell spent two seasons in Grand Rapids, including their championship run in 2001. Fury OS Thomas Bailey spent three seasons in Grand Rapids (1998-2000). In 1999 Bailey was named the Rampage's MVP. Entering this season, Bailey was the Rampage's scoring leader (432 points), but Bailey's records have been broken this year.

Playoff Experience can Shine: Entering the post-season, the Fury, despite being a completely rebuilt team, have a lot of playoff and championship experience to build from. 16 of the 24 players on the Fury's active roster have at least one season of ArenaBowl Playoffs. QB Andy Kelly has led his team to the playoffs seven years in a row, and he has played in two ArenaBowls. Lineman Jon McCall and Dary Myricks were both members of last year's Carolina squad that upset the Rampage in the first round of the playoffs, and McCall won an ArenaBowl with the Orlando Predators, along with current Fury lineman Curtis Eason. DS Ron Carpenter and FB/LB Rupert Grant have also played in an ArenaBowl, and lineman Matt Keneley was a member of last year's ArenaBowl Champion San Jose SaberCats.

RUNNING WITH THE RECORDS: Watch Fury Quarterback Andy Kelly continue his assault on the Arena Football League's record books. See how Fury quarterback finished the 2003 regular season against rival quarterbacks Aaron Garcia (NY) and Sherdrick Bonner (ARZ).



Arena Football League (1987-2008) Stories from May 21, 2003


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